Second Largest Class Enters LSC

This year's freshmen are not just bringing their laptops and mattress pads on campus, they are also bringing along some questions.

With enrollment reaching record numbers this year, LSC is welcoming 281 Vermonters and 262 out-of-state students, making the class of 2015 the second largest class in Lyndon's 100-year history.

"There's a lot of different things that we can attribute this years success to," Vincent Maloney, Associate Director of Admissions, explains. "We attribute a lot of it to our staff."

The admissions department brought in three new counselors, extended office work for student workers, and extended the time spent traveling and in high schools.  However, Maloney was quick to give credit to many other departments throughout the school saying, "It was definitely a group effort."

This was also a record year for the number of visitors on campus. "Of those seniors that visited, over half of those students deposited. I think that speaks volumes for what we do here," Maloney said.

"The VSC is strong," Maloney says when asked how other Vermont state schools did with their enrollment for this year. "Johnson State was right around where they've been in previous years, Castleton was a little bit below where they've been but they were right there."

After last years concerns about the financial stability of the college, many students and faculty wonder how the uptake in admissions will affect LSC's crisis.

"Is [the problem] completely gonna go away? No," Maloney explains. "What you have to understand is that, that problem, last years incoming class, affects the school for four years because that class keeps moving on in the system."

Though some might worry about maintaining Lyndon's small college feel with continued growth in classes, Maloney does not appear to be concerned. "This will always be the same LSC. It will always be the place everyone knows and loves."

Interim president Steve Gould warns against growth that may be out of proportion to Lyndon's current facilities.   

"Growth for growths sake can be destructive if we don't have the capacity on campus to do a good job," said Gould. Though Gould does not plan on starting a bunch of new initiatives this year, he does plan on pushing one. "We need more housing on campus, especially if we continue to have the success with enrollment that we had this year and I have no reason to believe we wont."

Gould agrees that maintaining the small campus feel at Lyndon is a priority, "The question that is always evolving is what are the numbers that constitute a small college."